Human Perception of Art in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Abstract

Recent advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) have rendered image-synthesis models capable of producing complex artworks that are nearly indistinguishable from human-made works. Here we present the first quantitative assessment of human perception and preference for art generated by OpenAI's DALL·E 2, a leading AI tool for art creation. Participants were presented with pairs of artworks, one human-made and one AI-generated, in either a preference task or a discrimination task. Results revealed a significant preference for AI-generated artworks. At the same time, a separate group of participants were above-chance at detecting the AI-generated work within each pair, indicating a perceptible distinction between human and artificial creative works. This shift in art preference to favour synthetic creations is poised to revolutionise the way we think about art and its value to human society, prompting reflections on authorship, authenticity, and human creativity in the era of generative AI.